Graphic Designers

Also called: Advertising Designer, Advertising Layout Worker, Artist, Catalogue Illustrator, Commercial Artist

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Graphic designers design or create graphics to meet specific commercial or promotional needs, such as packaging, displays, or logos. May use a variety of mediums to achieve artistic or decorative effects.

Determine size and arrangement of illustrative material and copy, and select style and size of type.
Confer with clients to discuss and determine layout design.
Create designs, concepts, and sample layouts, based on knowledge of layout principles and esthetic design concepts.
Develop graphics and layouts for product illustrations, company logos, and Web sites.
Use computer software to generate new images.
Review final layouts and suggest improvements as needed.
Maintain archive of images, photos, or previous work products.
Prepare illustrations or rough sketches of material, discussing them with clients or supervisors and making necessary changes.
Draw and print charts, graphs, illustrations, and other artwork, using computer.
Key information into computer equipment to create layouts for client or supervisor.
Research new software or design concepts.
Study illustrations and photographs to plan presentation of materials, products, or services.
Mark up, paste, and assemble final layouts to prepare layouts for printer.
Prepare notes and instructions for workers who assemble and prepare final layouts for printing.
Produce still and animated graphics for on-air and taped portions of television news broadcasts, using electronic video equipment.
Photograph layouts, using camera, to make layout prints for supervisors or clients.

Work Context

Electronic Mail — 100% responded "Every day".
Spend Time Sitting — 92% responded "Continually or almost continually".
Telephone — 70% responded "Every day".
Face-to-Face Discussions — 70% responded "Every day".
Time Pressure — 54% responded "Every day".
Importance of Being Exact or Accurate — 58% responded "Extremely important".
Work With Work Group or Team — 47% responded "Extremely important".

Work Activities

Thinking Creatively — Developing, designing, or creating new applications, ideas, relationships, systems, or products, including artistic contributions.
Getting Information — Observing, receiving, and otherwise obtaining information from all relevant sources.
Interacting With Computers — Using computers and computer systems (including hardware and software) to program, write software, set up functions, enter data, or process information.
Updating and Using Relevant Knowledge — Keeping up-to-date technically and applying new knowledge to your job.
Making Decisions and Solving Problems — Analyzing information and evaluating results to choose the best solution and solve problems.
Organizing, Planning, and Prioritizing Work — Developing specific goals and plans to prioritize, organize, and accomplish your work.
Establishing and Maintaining Interpersonal Relationships — Developing constructive and cooperative working relationships with others, and maintaining them over time.
Communicating with Persons Outside Organization — Communicating with people outside the organization, representing the organization to customers, the public, government, and other external sources. This information can be exchanged in person, in writing, or by telephone or e-mail.

Communicating with Supervisors, Peers, or Subordinates — Providing information to supervisors, co-workers, and subordinates by telephone, in written form, e-mail, or in person.

Identifying Objects, Actions, and Events — Identifying information by categorizing, estimating, recognizing differences or similarities, and detecting changes in circumstances or events.

Interpreting the Meaning of Information for Others — Translating or explaining what information means and how it can be used.

Selling or Influencing Others — Convincing others to buy merchandise/goods or to otherwise change their minds or actions.

Processing Information — Compiling, coding, categorizing, calculating, tabulating, auditing, or verifying information or data.

Judging the Qualities of Things, Services, or People — Assessing the value, importance, or quality of things or people.

Analyzing Data or Information — Identifying the underlying principles, reasons, or facts of information by breaking down information or data into separate parts.

Developing Objectives and Strategies — Establishing long-range objectives and specifying the strategies and actions to achieve them.

Estimating the Quantifiable Characteristics of Products, Events, or Information — Estimating sizes, distances, and quantities; or determining time, costs, resources, or materials needed to perform a work activity.

Performing Administrative Activities — Performing day-to-day administrative tasks such as maintaining information files and processing paperwork.

Scheduling Work and Activities — Scheduling events, programs, and activities, as well as the work of others.

Detailed Work Activities

Maintain records, documents, or other files.
Research new technologies.
Design layout of art or product exhibits, displays, or promotional materials.
Design layouts for print publications.
Create computer-generated graphics or animation.
Design layouts for print publications.

Design

Knowledge of design techniques, tools, and principles involved in production of precision technical plans, blueprints, drawings, and models.

Communications and Media

Knowledge of media production, communication, and dissemination techniques and methods. This includes alternative ways to inform and entertain via written, oral, and visual media.

English Language

Knowledge of the structure and content of the English language including the meaning and spelling of words, rules of composition, and grammar.

Active Listening

Giving full attention to what other people are saying, taking time to understand the points being made, asking questions as appropriate, and not interrupting at inappropriate times.

Speaking

Talking to others to convey information effectively.

Critical Thinking

Using logic and reasoning to identify the strengths and weaknesses of alternative solutions, conclusions or approaches to problems.

Reading Comprehension

Understanding written sentences and paragraphs in work related documents.

Originality

The ability to come up with unusual or clever ideas about a given topic or situation, or to develop creative ways to solve a problem.

Near Vision

The ability to see details at close range (within a few feet of the observer).

Fluency of Ideas

The ability to come up with a number of ideas about a topic (the number of ideas is important, not their quality, correctness, or creativity).

Oral Comprehension

The ability to listen to and understand information and ideas presented through spoken words and sentences.

Oral Expression

The ability to communicate information and ideas in speaking so others will understand.

Written Comprehension

The ability to read and understand information and ideas presented in writing.

Written Expression

The ability to communicate information and ideas in writing so others will understand.

Visualization

The ability to imagine how something will look after it is moved around or when its parts are moved or rearranged.

Speech Recognition

The ability to identify and understand the speech of another person.

Visual Color Discrimination

The ability to match or detect differences between colors, including shades of color and brightness.

Category Flexibility

The ability to generate or use different sets of rules for combining or grouping things in different ways.

Speech Clarity

The ability to speak clearly so others can understand you.

Deductive Reasoning

The ability to apply general rules to specific problems to produce answers that make sense.

Information Ordering

The ability to arrange things or actions in a certain order or pattern according to a specific rule or set of rules (e.g., patterns of numbers, letters, words, pictures, mathematical operations).

Problem Sensitivity

The ability to tell when something is wrong or is likely to go wrong. It does not involve solving the problem, only recognizing there is a problem.

Inductive Reasoning

The ability to combine pieces of information to form general rules or conclusions (includes finding a relationship among seemingly unrelated events).

Selective Attention

The ability to concentrate on a task over a period of time without being distracted.

People interested in this work like activities that include ideas, thinking, and figuring things out.

They do well at jobs that need:

Achievement/Effort

Persistence

Initiative

Leadership

Cooperation

Concern for Others

Social Orientation

Self Control

You might use software like this on the job:

Graphics or photo imaging software

Trimble SketchUp Pro
SmugMug Flickr
Microsoft Visio
Adobe Systems Adobe Creative Cloud
Adobe Systems Adobe Photoshop
Adobe Systems Adobe Illustrator
Adobe Systems Adobe Flash
Adobe Systems Adobe Fireworks
Adobe Systems Adobe FreeHand
Corel CorelDraw Graphics Suite

Web page creation and editing software

LinkedIn
Facebook
Social media sites
Adobe Systems Adobe Dreamweaver
Adobe Systems Adobe Flash Player
Adobe Systems Adobe Macromedia HomeSite

Object or component oriented development software

jQuery

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